Architectural Consumption in Los Angeles: Modernism, Power, and the Aesthetic of Plenty

This paper examines the economy produced by modernism as the site for developing an aesthetic grounded in opulence and consumption. While early modern architects aimed to break with tradition and create a new language of architectural forms, the call for new architecture has exploded into sites of what Glen Hill calls “aesthetic waste” in his article, “Aesthetics of Architectural Consumption” (2011). In Los Angeles, this aesthetic obsolescence results in developments being demolished at an alarming rate. As the idea of beauty is valued by its proximity to cleanliness or novelty, massive homes are turned to “junk” in pursuit of the ‘new’.